Braid
by AHeartForStories
Summary: Post-Httyd 2 fic. With how busy he is, Hiccup's hair hasn't been properly cut since before he became Chief. After about a year has passed since Stoick's passing, Valka takes note.


_Actually finished this one ages ago, but today I decided to post it. Some fluff amongst all the whump I've been writing._

_Constructive criticism is appreciated._

_Enjoy!_

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**Braid**

"Your hair is long."

"Huh?" Pulling his gaze away from the sketches for a new invention he'd been uselessly staring at for the last half an hour, Hiccup looked behind him to see Valka standing in the doorway, hand still on the handle.

The sun was setting outside, but Hiccup still felt the need to squeeze his eyes closed and pinch the bridge of his nose. They stung. Apparently, he'd been focussing too much on the papers before him and wasn't blinking enough as he stared.

"Your hair." Valka repeated and closed the door behind her before approaching, treading lightly as if Hiccup's house didn't once belong to her.

Well, Hiccup supposed it never did. During the last fifteen years of the war, his home had burned down quite a few times. Stoick, Gobber and some other men of the village had rebuilt it after every time and attempted to keep it the same, but some changes were made over the years.

The biggest, he mused, were made after Valka had been taken by Cloudjumper. When the Stormcutter's fire had devoured the whole house and nearly all of their belongings with it.

It must've been hard. Hiccup never really thought about it before, but a recently widowed single father with an infant and no home or hardly any possessions? It couldn't have been easy.

Crossing his arms on the table he sat at, Hiccup felt guilt gnawing at him. The relationship between him and his father had been complicated for a very long time, sometimes the only conversations held were Gobber impersonating them both whenever tensions were high. But for all the troubles and the strain, Hiccup could never say that his father hadn't tried to give him a good home.

Valka caught his eye and Hiccup smiled up at her. Cautiously, she took this as a sign that it was okay to go ahead and ran her hands through his hair.

The colour was a warm brown and it reached a little bit past his shoulders now. Whenever the sunlight hit him just right, there were shades of red in there as well.

Hiccup often heard people tell him how much he took after his mother, but all Valka saw was Stoick. To Gobber, Hiccup was a perfect mixture of both.

"I haven't cut my hair since last year. I think." Hiccup answered, keeping still as he felt his mother's fingers in his hair.

There was still a lot of awkwardness between the two of them, a lot that they still needed to talk about, but it wasn't easy. Hiccup's duties as Chief of Berk kept him busy and Valka would rather be helpful than get in the way. This was as affectionate as she dared to be so far. She feared pushing past invisible boundaries.

First years of misunderstandings between his father and him. Now here he was, once again at odds with a parent of his. Just in a different way than he and Stoick had been.

A dry and humourless huff left Hiccup. He finally knew both of his parents and he was lucky with neither of them.

Except maybe with Gobber.

"Thinking of something? You wear the same contemplative look as your father would whenever he was lost in thought." Valka allowed herself to smile and enjoy this moment. Hiccup's hair was long enough to be put in a ponytail. Perhaps even in a braid and Valka knew a thing or two about those.

"I do?" Hiccup asked. He realized what his mother was trying to do, Astrid often played with his hair and tried to sneak in a braid or two, three in there too. She'd mentioned once that, although she missed his slightly shorter mess, she liked his hair longer too.

"Yes. You're like him in more ways than you realize." Was Valka's response as she skillfully braided Hiccup's hair. She would start with something simple first. Something small that he could get used to with ease until he would inevitably decide to cut his hair. The braid would keep it all out of his eyes at least.

She remembered doing the same for her estranged husband long, long ago. Amongst the tensions caused by the war with the dragons and their clashing ideals, moments of peace like this she reminisced fondly.

"Can you tell me?" Valka's hands briefly paused when Hiccup spoke again. She could hear the emotion in his voice, the want to know.

Her smile took on a more sadder, and yet fonder, look.

"Of course." She answered and finished Hiccup's braid.


End file.
